One Down, One to Go for Duke

Mike Krzyzewski has been in enough championship settings to get a good read on his team. He knew to keep quiet Sunday.

“They had gotten themselves up for the game. When I went into my pregame talk I said, ‘You better not say too much, you’ll ruin the moment,’” Krzyzewski said following Duke’s 91-61 victory over North Carolina State in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.

“I love that because that’s the maturity that has developed over the last couple of weeks.”

The third-ranked Blue Devils (29-3) became the first program in the 49 years of the Atlantic Coast Conference to win four consecutive championships as most valuable player Carlos Boozer scored 26 points, Jason Williams added 24 and Mike Dunleavy had 18.

“I’ve been in this league 22 years and I know how precious each tournament win is,” Krzyzewski said when asked about the four consecutive titles. “It’s a little bit hard to believe.”

The 6-foot-9, 280-pound Boozer was 11 of 12 from the field and finished 20 of 24 in three tournament games. He was 33 of 39 in three games this season against N.C. State.

Boozer missed the first shot of the game, then made 11 in a row to dominate the Wolfpack (22-10), which is led by Anthony Grundy’s 13 points.

Duke’s 63.5% shooting set a championship game record and its winning margin was the second-largest in tournament history.

Only N.C. State (1954-56) and North Carolina (1967-69) had won three consecutive championships before Duke’s current run.